Do patients with severe poststroke communication difficulties have a higher incidence of falls during inpatient rehabilitation? A retrospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND

Falls in hospital are common and serious complications of stroke. Associations have been found between communication disorders and increased rates of falls, but have received relatively little consideration as a risk factor for falls among stroke survivors.

OBJECTIVES

To investigate whether there is an association between severe communication impairment and falls among patients receiving inpatient rehabilitation after stroke.

METHODS

A retrospective audit of 149 records of consecutive patients admitted to an inpatient rehabilitation facility after stroke over a two-year period was conducted. The relationship between falls and severe communication impairment was explored using (1) direct comparison of falls in patients with and without functional communication for the inpatient ward environment and (2) multivariate logistic regression to examine factors that may predict falls, including presence or absence of functional communication. In each analysis, falls were examined both as a binary outcome (fall or no fall), and the rate of falls per day.

RESULTS

The 32 patients in the sample (21.7%) who were unable to communicate their basic needs were almost twice as likely to fall in hospital as those with functional communication (RR 1.94, 95% CI 1.15 to 3.24). Several commonly assessed factors were not significant predictors of falls (including falls history, polypharmacy, and cognitive impairment) in this population. Lack of functional communication was the strongest independent predictor of falls rate.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings suggest that severe communication disorders may be under recognized as a falls risk factor after stroke.